Protecting Your IP with Erin Austin

"Your intellect is your greatest asset," asserts Erin Austin. Erin is a strategic lawyer and consultant who uses her 25+ years of practicing law, including roles as COO and general counsel at large and small IP-driven companies, to help businesses protect and leverage their expertise. Erin and Kiley Peters discuss intellectual property (IP) protection for entrepreneurs, helping listeners understand what IP really is, its significance in safeguarding their creative and intellectual work, and the essential steps for ensuring their innovations are legally protected.

Erin emphasizes the universal nature of IP, revealing that any creation of the mind, whether by an individual or a multinational, warrants protection. She tackles the issue of imposter syndrome, urging entrepreneurs to value their ideas and safeguard their intellectual assets. Erin clarifies that while trademarks represent the source of goods or services, copyrights protect the expression of ideas. She advises entrepreneurs to focus on securing copyrights for their unique content like workshops and training materials, crucial to creating business value.

Erin highlights the pitfalls of neglecting IP protection, including the challenges in enforcing rights and the risks of unintentional infringement. She offers guidance on proper attribution and quoting to avoid legal complications and underscores the importance of contracts in maintaining IP rights, especially in collaborations.

Erin also touches on the future of IP in the AI era, noting the current non-eligibility of AI-generated content for copyright. She recommends focusing on original content creation and introduces her NDA Navigator, a tool for managing non-disclosure agreements in business collaborations.

This episode unpacks the essentials of intellectual property for entrepreneurs, offering down-to-earth strategies for safeguarding their creative work and turning their innovative ideas into successful business assets.

Quotes:

"Intellectual property is everywhere. Whenever we're using our intellect, we are creating intellectual property." - Erin Austin (01:35)
"We should not make the mistake that we don't have some valuable intellectual property that we need to be thinking about strategically to make sure that we are owning it, controlling it, and therefore we can use it to drive value in our businesses." - Erin Austin (02:17)
"Our goal is to create assets in our business, and just like any other asset, it's more valuable when you own the whole thing." - Erin Austin (00:04:11)

Links

Connect with Welcome to Eloma

Instagram: @welcometoeloma

Website: WelcometoEloma.com

Connect with Kiley

Social: @kileypeters + Linkedin.com/in/kileypeters

Websites: RAYNEIX.com, KileyPeters.com

Weekly Email Newsletter: RIXNewsletter.com

Email: info@rayneix.com

Connect with Erin Austin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Website: https://www.thinkbeyondip.com/